Concrete Angel
by DarkTaoAngel
Summary: A songfic about Ren's life, with the Martina Mcbride song Concrete Angel. Yes, Ren is not a girl, but the song does fit. Oneshot.


DarkTaoAngel: I heard this song the other day, and I was so inspired. The music video that I saw it with was a Shaman King one, and it was about Ren. Even though Ren is not a girl, this song does fit him very well, so I decided to use it. Here is the address to watch the music video, and no, it does not belong to me: Please review!

"Attention everyone, we have a new student. Please welcome… Ren Tao." The teacher promptly announced to upon entering the classroom.

There were footsteps outside of the door, and everyone's attention was focused at the person who had just stepped inside. It was a boy of about sixteen. He had purple hair and golden eyes, and he was quite unlike the rest of the class. He looked skinny, and the school uniform that he had been seen wearing around town lately was almost baggy on him. He also looked a bit pale, but no one really knew what to make of it all, especially not the teacher, who just watched him walk in, not saying a word.

The other students looked at him in shock, but he refused to say anything. He had brought his own lunch, which was very unusual, as no one really ever did. He also sat alone in the classroom, especially during the first few days that he was there, but no one seemed to notice.

_She walks to school with lunch she packed,_

_Nobody knows what she's holding back,_

_Wearing the same dress she wore yesterday,_

_She hides the bruises with linen and lace._

Ren seemed like a loner, keeping to himself. Everyone thought that he was shy and so they simply disregarded his odd behavior. He acted differently, but nothing seemed to be wrong. The teacher watched him silently, but knew better than to question him.

_The teacher wonders but she doesn't ask,_

_It's hard to see the pain behind the mask,_

_Bearing the burden of a secret storm, _

_Sometimes she wishes she was never born._

When class let out, Ren was the last one out the door. He winced a little as he walked, but no one paid him any attention. The teacher did not even seem to see, or perhaps she did not want to.

It was cloudy outside, and everyone had taken out their umbrellas for when it would rain. A storm was starting, but Ren did not mind. He did not have an umbrella, but he could hardly feel the weather anyway. He knew what was coming, but he still kept the hope inside of him that the next day would be better.

_Through the wind and the rain,_

_She stands hard as a stone,_

_In a world that she can't rise above,_

_But her dreams give her wings, _

_And she flies to a place where she's loved,_

_Concrete angel._

When Ren got home his father was waiting, angry that Ren had gotten home late. Ren knew that he would be beaten twice as hard as usual that night, but that did not stop the pain from coming. His screams filled the air, and his blood covered the ground, but no one cared. No one had ever cared.

_Somebody cries in the middle of the night,_

_The neighbors hear but they turn out the lights,_

_A fragile soul caught in the hands of fate,_

_When morning comes it'll be too late._

The students of his class came to say goodbye the next day. They all knew that if they had just tried a little harder, they could have stopped prevented this from happening.

The cold weather fitted perfectly with the gloomy day. They blamed themselves for what had happened to him. No one had seemed to care about him, but now it was too late to do anything about it. They had started caring when there was nothing left to care about.

_Through the wind and rain, _

_She stands hard as a stone, _

_In a world that she can't rise above, _

_But her dreams give her wings, _

_And she flies to a place where she's loved, _

_Concrete angel._

The rain beat hard down upon his grave, in his death, just as it had in his life. But he could not feel it; he could not feel anything anymore. There were few flowers on his tombstone, as though no one had bothered putting them there. His family had not even come to say their final goodbyes, not that they were expected to. But he was not sad anymore either, as he had been all of his life, because he did not have to suffer anymore. He was free, without having to fight the chains of his old life. He just wished that it could have been better for him when he was still living.

_A statue stands in a shaded place, _

_An angel girl with an upturned face, _

_A name is written of a polished rock, _

_A broken heart that the world forgot._

Ren had known what was coming. It was the hope that he had kept with him that had finally set him free. A part of him wanted this to happen, so that he would leave the world that had treated him so badly. But another part of him still wished that it could have gone better, and that he could have lived a normal life. There was nothing he could do about it, though, and he was happy for the first time in his life. Now there was no more pain, and he could finally go to where he was welcome, and where no one would hurt him anymore.

_Through the wind and the rain, _

_She stands hard as a stone, _

_In a world that she can't rise above, _

_But her dreams give her wings, _

_And she flies to a place where she's loved,_

_Concrete angel._

AN: I cried when I first heard this story, and I know a few people who did the same. She I decided to make a story of what Ren's life is like, though no too accurately; I do think that it sounds very much like what his life is like. If you have never heard the song, you need to! Review please!


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